4 Day Weekend

As I wrap up a great 4 day weekend with my girls, I have had some time to really dive into the race again. Sarah Palin has me completely rejuvenated!

I have found my policy clone in Palin. As I continue to research, I can honestly tell you that I agree 100% with all of her stances on issues. I love how she has rebelled against other Republicans, and has truly lived out the McCain "maverick" matra.

While I am Republican by default, I disagree with most of the Democratic platform, I also do not believe in blindly following a party when they are wrong.

Bush's tax cuts were great, but tax cuts only work when you cut spending too! Revolutionary I know. Bill Richardson, the governor of New Mexico, and a Democrat, actually followed that formula and his state is thriving! My girl Sarah has done that as well in Alaska. She has fought big oil, turned money away from Congress when it made no sense, and has completely revitalized ethic reform in her state.

This is fair warning, you are going to see mass Palin love on Heat Stadium and in my day to day.

And while I disagree with all of Obama's policies, I must also give props when it is due. I had already planned to post his "I don't want them punished with a baby" piece when talking about his daughters and the possibility of teen pregnancy. Then I logged on to politico.com, which is a great non-partisan site for news on government matters., and found the following reaction from Obama when news of Sarah Palin's 17 year old daughter's pregnancy broke:

Politico's Carrie Budoff Brown reports: At a press avail in Monroe, Mich., Barack Obama on Palin: "Back off these kinds of stories."

"I have said before and I will repeat again: People's families are off limits," Obama said. "And people's children are especially off-limits. This shouldn't be part of our politics. It has no relevance to Gov. Palin's performance as a governor or her potential performance as a vice president. So I would strongly urge people to back off these kinds of stories. You know my mother had me when she was 18 and how a family deals with issues and teenage children, that shouldn’t be a topic of our politics."

Well done Barrack.

I just applauded two "lefties" in one post, what the heck is going on...

Celebrate

It is not even my birthday, but I am giddy.

Just when McCain could not have driven me any further away, he does
something like this and totally redeems himself!

Sarah Palin, VP, absolutely love it.

Congrats McCain, you just won yourself an election...

Politics

God Bless America, you cannot make this stuff up.

On Mad Money last night, Jim talked about a stock for a company which delivers natural gas to vehicles. Not really something that there is a big need for right now, but a fairly powerful politician from California owns a nice little chunk of the stock, and there just so happens to be a new grant in legislation there which would put over 200,000 vehicles on the road that run on...wait...no...natural gas!

Read more about it from the WSJ HERE

Also, Beck has some great stuff going. While talking about sporks today, he emphasized the need for us to create a bigger carbon footprint for ourselves since the DNC has gone so "green".

Please, do your part, and visit the link HERE

I love his sarcasm, I think that is why I relate to him so well, I usually leave people with the wrong impression until they really get to know me.

Oh yeah, still no baby...

I have returned...

Since my last post, a lot of great things have happened.:

• Bon and I celebrated our 9th wedding anniversary
• Jum and Katie were in town
• Daddy B was in town
• Rhino and Andy were in town
• Momma was in town
  
• The Mother-in-law has set up camp in our house
• 7 members of our family showed our Blackjack prowess once again, bringing home money from what I call the "Bank of Belterra"
• Reese is just awesome
• The baby is closer to his/her debut
• We scored a Wii, with Rock Band, I nail Boston's "More Than a Feeling"
  

Now on to an experience this past Sunday that has once again brought me back to a better perspective in life.

It was amazing on many different levels, and will have a lasting impact on the 4 Corners community.

Please watch the video below for a great lesson in grace, following Christ, and unconditional love.


Shall We Dance: Guidance from Greg Hodges on Vimeo.

Jum Countdown Continues

(Mom enjoying the drums playing Rock Band)

As another family festival nears there are rumors of gifts and the use of gift cards that may secure a Wii with Rock Band, stay tuned...

This weekend was a festival. We got a ton accomplished around the house again Saturday.

Sunday I got the chance to serve with a good friend, as he launches a new church. Bon took my spot teaching the 4 and 5 year old's at 4 Corners.

Sunday afternoon we hit the pool with some friends and enjoyed a new pizza brand, Marco's.

Reese bedtime update, she is doing pretty well. She has still had some issues with being upset when she first wakes up sporadically, but improving everyday. Going to sleep has become almost seamless, with us sitting outside her door.

Bon had her 30 week appointment today and everything went extremely well. We asked for a confidence level from our doctor on the gender decision and she gave us the 90% level that we have a boy. (Stats class flashback with confidence level and prob crap)

One week until Jum arrives...

Unreal, check this out:

OK, now for the pics

A new one of Gizmo, the National Anthem scene from the game, and first pitch.

Mega-Week

OK, so much to type about the mega-week I will have to post up pics later.

Here we go:

• Sunday night I headed to Athens to hook up with Guido for the trip, took 3 hours!
• Guido and I leave Athens at about 8am, heading to NYC...
• Momma arrives at the house to hang with my girls while I am gone
• We arrive at the hotel in East Rutherford, NJ, it is wicked sweet, it literally was a suite, nicer than any apartment Bon and I have lived in
• We then begin our navigation of the mass transit system, what a learning experience! It took us 2 hours to go 11 miles on the bus!
• Fast forward a little bit, as we are trying to make our way back to the hotel Monday night and end up at the bus station. We have absolutely no clue which bus to take back, where it leaves from, or anything. We finally end up at little automated ticket buying machines, each of us on one about 15 yards apart. As we are yelling at each other trying to figure out what the heck to do, a middle-aged couple sitting on the bench between us offers help. They proceed to tell us how they had just missed their bus, asked where we were headed and said they would be on the exact same bus! They also gave us detailed information on how to get around better on Tuesday, including quicker routes and detailed directions. I do not throw this around lightly folks, but in my gut I truly believe these two were angels. There were just so many things that had to happen for us to encounter them, and the information they gave us was invaluable, I will never forget their faces.
  
• Tuesday we hit up all of the tourist type spots, less the Statue of Liberty. This included Ground Zero, Wall Street, the Today Show, etc. It was a little warm, and I am estimating that we walked at least 10 miles over the course of the day. We hit up the All-Star Game parade for a little bit, grabbed lunch at an Irish Pub, and then caught a flick in Times Square. Reasoning for watching a movie, which we could have done at home, it was hot, we were tired of walking, we had seen all the tourist stuff, and we had time to kill.
• The game itself was amazing, although I think I enjoyed the pre-game ceremony with all of the Hall of Fame legends more than the game itself. Honestly, the game was a little boring in the beginning, although it moved quickly. For the record, beers were $9.50 a piece...
• I bought an All-Star Game t-shirt just to have a dry shirt on, I had completely sweat through and soaked my original shirt of the day, awesome...
• OK, fast forward again, spent all day Wednesday traveling back to the 'Nati. I missed Bon and Reese so much, although it sounds like they had a good time with Momma. They did a great job on finishing Gizmo's big girl room and getting her ready to move in fully. (More on that later) I will never forget Reese's reaction when she saw me coming down the stairs Wednesday night. She starting jumping straight up and down, swinging her arms everywhere, her face turned red, and she was screaming "Daddy, Daddy, Mommy look Daddy's here!" She then ran over and jumped into my arms, not leaving my side the rest of the night, it was awesome.
  
• Thursday night, Bon and I had tickets to see the live Glenn Beck show, which was simulcast all over the country to 350 movie theaters. Reese was an angel for the sitter, as always and we had a great time. Bon was cracking up a ton, and really enjoyed it. I bet there were 200 people in our theater for the show. One of the coolest things was the people we saw that we knew, but had no idea they were Beck fans! Sure he can be a little over the top sometimes, but when you listen to what is on his heart and the true motivation for his stance on things, it is dead on in my opinion. They are producing it on DVD, can you say Christmas presents for Slim, Momma, Jum, Rhino, T-Bone and Daddy B??? It's nice to know we are not the only sick, twisted freaks...
• Friday night, was the first night for Gizmo in her new bed, in her new room. It was an experience. We put her in like normal, and left the room. After two times of her getting right up and walking out, us putting her back in, we stayed with her and explained she had to stay in bed. She cried quite a bit, and finally Bon laid down next to her and sang her entire library of mental songs, including mostly Christmas carols. I sat on the end of the bed. Eventually she was out cold and we exited the room, almost 90 minutes after the initial drop.
  
• Saturday, I thought it was a little warm in Gizmo's room, so after heading over to a family function of Bon's for a little bit, we returned for me to install a ceiling fan in her room. It actually went pretty well and makes a big difference in the temp in there. That night went much better, I sang "Jesus Loves Me" and laid down with Reese. Bon sat next to the bed on a chair, we were out in prob 20 minutes.
  
• Sunday, part II of the room cooldown, buying and installing a new window shade. This actually went pretty well too, and I am 2 for 2 on handyman work for the weekend with no injuries. Nightime 3, Bon and I both sat just to the side of the bed, it was darker thanks to the shade, so that helped, prob 40 minutes total from initial drop. She has figured out she can get out of bed and come into our room as soon as she wakes up, although every time she has awakened she has cried. No doubt still trying to get accustomed to her new surroundings, which is understandable. However, last night she woke up at 2:30am, and where she would have just fallen back asleep in her crib, she started crying and came into our room. Bon took her back in and stood at the door this time, Reese just wanted to know she was there. So the next two nights we are going with the stand at the door route as we transition to the full walk-out again. My hope is that once we roll back around to Friday, and a full week, she will be feeling more comfortable.
  

Ok, I apologize for the large post, but as you can tell, this was a big week in our house! Thanks for reading, and being a part of our lives.

The Official Announcement

I have tried to keep this under wraps, but it is gaining a ton of momentum!

I have decided to take this election into my own hands.

Check out a news report I was just given an advance copy of. Please pass it on...

Wednesday Updates

• Had a rock solid lunch with Mr. Watts at Qdoba, that place is extremely under-rated
• On the way downtown for some training the Corolla rolled over 170K miles
• In the explosion excitement of yesterday, forgot to mention that I had to get a new battery put in the beast
• Bon picked up a new pick today that I am anxious to read, The Last Patriot, by Brad Thor
• Jum is in the Mojave area of Caly for the next month for training. The good news is that he gets to come home from there
• Slim is building himself a nice little lawn mower empire, way to go bro, I am wicked proud of you, keep it up!
  

Video From Explosion

Here is a news video on the excitement in our subdivision last night. I was on the phone with Slim, driving by, as they were getting ready to shoot this live shot.

Good times...

Fireworks start house fire in our subdivision

Homeowner planned Fourth of July display

FAIRFIELD TOWNSHIP - A cache of large, powerful fireworks caused a fire and explosions today at a house in the Hunters Trace subdivision here.

The heavy-duty fireworks, which were kept in the garage at a home at the intersection of Huntsman Way and Hamilton-Mason Road, started catching fire at about noon. Some of the fireworks exploded, fire and police officials said.

Bill Hengeli, the homeowner, and his brother-in-law were in the garage when the fireworks began to explode.

"I had my back turned," Hengeli said. "I got trapped in the corner. I ran through the center of it all to get out."

Hengeli, who was wearing a T-shirt with the logo "Extreme Pyro," was known for informal but spectacular fireworks displays in his neighborhood until three years ago, when he moved the display to a friend's farm in Indiana, said Buzz Marshall, a neighbor.

"As soon as I heard it, I knew it wasn't right. God was looking out after him," Marshall said.

Fire and police are investigating. No charges have been filed.

No damage estimate has been released, but the fire was mostly contained to the garage, said township Fire Capt. Jim Coggin.

"They were extremely lucky," Coggin said.

Hengeli said he did nothing wrong.

"They can investigate, but it's not illegal to possess fireworks," he said.

The Enquirer will update this story as information develops.

PB

Reese has developed a new found love of peanut butter. She will sit with an open jar and a spoon and just munch away, it is pretty funny.

Mad props go out to Hartsock today, he delivered the message at church yesterday and was straight money.

Plans continue for Jum's trip home and the NYC trip...

Happy Monday

Major Announcement for Cincinnati Beck Fans We are extremely excited to announce that Glenn Beck will be returning to 55KRC THE Talk Station, starting today! We have heard from so many Glenn Beck fans over the last couple of years and know the passion you have for Glenn Beck in Cincinnati. So sick freaks enjoy Glenn Beck every weekday from 9 till noon on 55KRC The Talk Station!

Draft Review

The Heat did it! They landed Huggs recruit and future stud Michael
Beasley last night. That alone would have been enough to get an A
grade from me, but then they went ahead and added Mario Chalmers from
the Jayhawks National Championship team.

Chalmers and Beasley should both be in the starting line-up, which
will make watching games a ton of fun.

Have a great weekend!

Supreme Court Gun Decision

The U.S. Supreme Court Thursday, in a 5-4 ruling, for the first time in U.S. history declared the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution contains a specific right to individual gun ownership and rejected Washington, D.C., handgun restrictions, which were the strictest in the nation.

Read the entire article in the WSJ HERE

Guitar Hero

So, as part of the family time extravaganza we got to rock out to Guitar Hero and Rock Band. This was an absolute blast! I even have some sweet pics of Momma rockin' out on drums that I will post up for you later. Although, the game clearly has flaws since it did not recognize my pitch brilliance on "Wanted Dead or Alive"...

This game will def be the first thing we purchase when the Wii is in house. One of the songs we rocked out to that I actually heard on XM this morning and head-banged to was:



The NBA Draft is tonight, look for my review tomorrow. I hope the Heat select Michael Beasley, for the record...

Two Week Hiatus

After some time away, the Heat Stadium is back, and we are bringing HEAVY news and pics...

First thing first, we have had a ton of great family time over the last two weeks. I think it is safe to say I have myself a Daddy's girl...

Daddy B and Aunt Krys were in town, and we got to hang with Momma and the Slim Shady Posse.

Check out the next generation of Furniss below, from left to right, Carleigh, Addie, My Gizmo, and Legend, (even my boy Tru made the pic, behind Reese in Bon's brown top):


Here is another pic from our trip to the Newport Aquarium:


Now, on to the other HUGE news. Thanks to my man Guido, I have the distinct pleasure of taking part in the:


Thru some amazing negotiations Guido has secured two tix to the Summer Classic, so we are taking a roady to the Big Apple. This is an incredible once in a lifetime opportunity!!!

My boy N2, owner of the hated Vendettas club, is giving us a place to lay our head and shower while we are there.

Will be hard to top this post moving forward, but will keep you better updated of the daily blessings that are life in the Heat Stadium...

Guess I am not the only one...

Solid article in the LA Times about the distaste by conservative Republicans in Ohio for Juan McCain, read it HERE

Taken from Hartsock's Blog

Katie Reider is a singer/songwriter, whose brother just happens to be our worship leader at 4 Corners.

She was diagnosed with a rare tumor that spread to her sinuses and jaw. Needless to say, treatment of this is extensive, invasive and expensive...

You can read more about her story by clicking thru the photo.

So some of her friends have setup a website to help with expenses for Katie and her family. They are trying to get 500,000 visits in one year and have each person by an album by Katie for $1. An amazing offer to listen to great music and help an amazing voice sing again...thanks!

(Thank you to Hartsock for posting this on Beautiful and Grotesque and bringing it to our attention)